Daisuke Matsuzaka tossed a bullpen session at the Saitozaki facilities on March 29. He threw eighteen pitches to a standing catcher and forty-one to a squatting catcher. He threw off a mound for the first time in twelve days. He could be ready to pitch in a Ni-gun three-game series at Naruohama that begins on April 3. Source: Nikkan Sport 3/30/2015

Yuki Saito is scheduled to make his first regular season start on April 2 against Lotte at QVC Marine. Source: Sports Hochi 3/30/2015

Hideki Kuriyama likes the flexibility he believes Victor Garate can provide the team. He was supposed to start the season out of the bullpen, but got an emergency spot start when Hiroshi Urano went down with a right shoulder injury. Had he not pitched well, he might have been sent down to Ni-gun to make room for Luis Mendoza, but instead, the Fighters opted to keep him and take Michael Crotta off the active roster on March 30. Source: Nikkan Sports 3/29/2015

Ni-gun game against Rakuten on March 29: Yusei Kikuchi threw three shutout innings in relief. He faced ten hitters, gave up one hit, walked none, struck out three, and topped out at 156km/h. Source: Sponichi 3/30/2015

Ni-gun game against Yokohama on March 29: Second round draft pick Eisuke Tanaka startd the game and tossed seven shutout innings. He faced twenty-three hitters, threw eighty-three pitches, gave up two hits, walked one, struck out six, and topped out at 147km/h. Source: Sports Hochi 3/29/2015, Sponichi 3/29/2015

Seibu Lions

Ni-gun game against Rakuten on March 29: First round draft pick Kona Takahashi started the game and did not allow a run over five innings of work. He faced sixteen hitters, allowed two hits, walked none, struck out eight, and topped out at 153km/h. Source: Sports Hochi 3/29/2015

Chihiro Kaneko was scratched from a batting practice scrimmage on March 24. He played some catch, but only threw the ball about five to ten times at a distance of around twenty-seven meters. Source: Nikkan Sports 3/25/2015 ... Kaneko may not start an Ichi-gun game until some time after April 8, if not later. Source: Sports Hochi 3/25/2015, Sanspo 3/25/2015

Ni-gun game against Yomiuri on March 24: Hiroshi Urano started the game and gave up two runs on two hits over two innings of work. He faced ten hitters, threw thirty-three pitches, walked two, and struck out none. He struggled with his control in the 1st inning, but got through the 2nd inning on just seven pitches. Source: Sports Hochi 3/25/2015

Shohei Otani averaged about 1.28 seconds to the plate with runners on base last year. He has managed to drop that down to about 1.1 seconds this year. Source: Sponichi 3/25/2015

Former Nippon Ham Fighter Yukihito Nakanishi (37) was arrested by Kyoto police on March 10 on suspicions of attempted theft. According to reports, Nakanishi tried to steal undergarments belonging to a fifty-six-year-old woman that were hanging in a second floor veranda from the second floor of his home using a fishing rod. He denied the allegations and claimed that he was fixing his fishing rod. Source: Sponichi 3/10/2015

Chiba Lotte Marines

Second round draft pick Eisuke Tanaka could make his Ichi-gun debut on April 30 against Seibu at QVC Marine. The starting rotation will most likely include two foreign pitchers: Kuan-Yu Chen and Dae-Eun Rhee. One could be taken off the active roster to make room for Alfredo Despaigne when he arrives in Japan next month. Lotte is scheduled to begin a nine-game stretch on April 28. Tanaka, Takuya Furuya, and Yuta Kimura are all candidates for the spot start on April 30. Source: Sports Hochi 3/25/2015

Yusei Kikuchi is scheduled to pitch about three innings in relief in a Ni-gun game against Rakuten on March 29. Assuming no problems after that, he could rejoin the Ichi-gun team in mid-April. Source: Nikkan Sports 3/25/2015

Tomoya Mori could make the opening day starting line-up as the designated hitter. Through March 24, he was 9-for-25 with two doubles, five walks, and a slash line of .360/.467/.440 in eight Ni-gun games. Source: Sanspo 3/25/2015

Rakuten Eagles

Takahiro Shiomi could start the home opener on March 31 against Seibu. Source: Sponichi 3/25/2015

Wily Mo Pena will donate 30,000 yen for every home run he hits and 10,000 yen for every RBI he records this season to a fund that helps children affected by the Tohoku earthquake. Source: Sponichi 3/25/2015

Hiromoto Okubo on players signing autographs: "Do your best not to turn down [fans] that ask for you autograph. ... Let's say you turn down one person. Suppose that one person is from a family of five. Now five people know. Let's say three of those five are kids. Now thirty to forty people from their school know." Source: Daily Sports 3/25/2015

Daisuke Matsuzaka could pitch in his first regular season game either during an Orix series that begins on April 14 or a Lotte series that begins on April 17. Source: Sports Hochi 3/24/2015, Sponichi 3/24/2015

The Hawks will be loosening the netting that runs across the top of the fences in the outfield out of concern that they might break on a hard hit line drive and cause harm to nearby spectators. Source: Sponichi 3/24/2015, Nikkan Sports 3/24/2015

The San-gun Hawks are slated to play a practice games against Fukuoka University on March 25 and Asahikawa University on March 28. Both games will start at 12:30pm at Gannosu Stadium. Source: Nikkan Sports 3/24/2015